I once visited Truman State University (it’s in Kirksville, Missouri—Truman’s state) as a guest of Taner Edis, physicist, atheist, and anti-creationist. It was a pleasant visit, and Taner surely couldn’t have played a role in the latest shenanigans at This school, recounted in the article from FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) that you can see by clicking on this screenshot:
Note that Truman State is a public university and thus subject to the strictures of the First Amendment. However, as the article recounts, the school has repeatedly turned down students’ requests to form what seem to be perfectly reasonable clubs and organizations—and has nixed them on ridiculous and subjective grounds. You can see more of this history in the letter from FIRE to the President of Truman state (pdf here).
Earlier, Truman State students sought to create a Vegetarian Club, which was rejected because an evaluator said that such a diet could be harmful to some people and that “there could be the potential risk of miseducating people interested in joining the club/lifestyle.” The club was rejected three times.
In October of this year, sophomore Naomi Mathew, pictured above, tried to start an “Animal Alliance” club to promote animal rights. Mathew did everything necessary to get official status, including procuring an advisor, identifying more than ten interested students, and filling out an application form. After a hearing, that club was also rejected because of the potential “risk brought about by [Animal Alliance’s affiliation with PETA]”, because there was “a high emotional and reputational risk” to the university, and because they were worried about having to get police for the club’s events.
FIRE’s letter shows that Truman State has a history of this kind of dumb censorship of clubs. To wit:
Note that several of these rejections involved clubs having to do with religion, and at any rate, the reasons given for rejection are laughable. But the rejections themselves are not: as FIRE argues, these are violations of the First Amendment, citing a Supreme Court decision overturning a college’s rejection of the radical Students for a Democratic Society group. The Court ruled that “denial of official recognition, without justification, to college organizations burdens or abridges [the associational right] implicit in the freedoms of speech, assembly, and petition.”
Yes, the university had “justification” to reject all these applications, but FIRE argues that the criteria it used don’t meet the objective criteria they lay out in the rules, but add subjective factors like “emotional risk” or whether they see the club’s advocates as “sufficiently passionate.” The rejection of religious clubs is particularly offensive, abrogating freedom of religion. And of course arguing against a vegetarian club because the lifestyle is unhealthy is laughable: tell that to a gazillion Indian people! FIRE makes other arguments, too, but you can read their 12-page letter for yourself. In the net, FIRE asks for Truman State to stop using subjective criteria for evaluating clubs and organization and to recognize the Animal Alliance as a valid club. There’s also an implied threat at the end that should worry the school:
Universities may use objective criteria to grant or deny student groups’ bids for official recognition. But Truman State’s subjective process violates students’ First Amendment rights and results in a double standard, with some controversial groups approved and others ousted. FIRE will continue to monitor the situation and use all the resources at its disposal to ensure a just outcome.
Read: lawsuit, which will cost Truman State a lot of dosh and probably a legal defeat as well.
FIRE gives a contact information to Truman State as well, and I’ll be writing the President an email. It’s time for the school to stop abrogating students’ Constitutional rights. Though this sounds like a small matter, one can’t allow colleges to begin eroding the rights of students in public schools, because this truly is a slippery slope.
CONTACT: Dr. Susan Thomas, President, Truman State University: 660-785-4100; suethomas@truman.edu
Greetings, Jerry! Could you please share the letter you send to the Truman State President?
Thanks!
Todd
Ban the vegetarians!
sub
Very odd and most likely illegal. I know nothing about this school but very similar in size and not so far away from Northwest Missouri State College in Maryville. Where I am from in Southwest Iowa was close to Maryville, only 30 miles or so. They always had a killer football team, the Bearcats.
In this connection, one should remember that the Czech anarchist and writer Jaroslav Hasek was, in 1910, appointed editor of a magazine called Animal World. He was soon fired for writing articles about fabulous animals that he made up. He went on to form
a political party of his own in 1911 and stood for election to a Prague seat in the parliament of Austria-Hungary. One of Hasek’s planks was “rehabilitation of animals”. In fact, I believe he campaigned for a program to teach animals to speak. A description of his “Party of Moderate Progress” is at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Party_of_Moderate_Progress_Within_the_Bounds_of_the_Law
If the rules – you need ten students, a faculty sponsor- were actually followed, it would make perfect sense. These denials are arbitrary and bizarre.
The Supreme Court decision referred to is not identified. I would like to read the case. My first impression is that it is a bad decision and should be overruled. People can be free to assemble, petition and speak without being recognized as official by a state university. I don’t think there is a right to become official. I see this as an advancement of the woke. Enjoyed the post and talk about woke yesterday.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/408/169.html ?
Thank you.
I presume that groups can apply for funds (from student activity fees?) if they are “official.”
I didn’t think I’d ever want to stand up for religious organizations. In this case I will – at least as far as their constitutional rights go. It seems to me there is a general bias being shown in many of these cases.
Can anyone tell me what “emotional risk” is, and why adults need to be protected from it?
Also common in their ‘reasons’ is a clear belief that their students are infantile. Special Snowflakes. Unready to handle challenges to their world views.
Is a student society making these decisions? If so, are *they* bound, or is just the university bound, by the 1A?